ROHIT SHARMA’S 10th Test century in the first Test against the West Indies has seen the India captain re-enter the top 10 on the latest MRF Tyres ICC Men’s Test Batting Rankings, while young gun Yashasvi Jaiswal has made his maiden appearance on the updated list after a stunning debut.
India cruised to a comprehensive victory over the West Indies in the opening Test of the two-match ICC World Test Championship series in Dominica and both Rohit and Jaiswal were prominent with superb centuries.
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Rohit set the tone with a solid knock of 103 and this allowed the experienced captain to rise three places and inside the top 10 once again to be rated slightly ahead of compatriot Rishabh Pant (11th) and Virat Kohli (14th) as the highest ranked Indian batter.
But there may soon be a new challenger to emerge, with Jaiswal entering the batting rankings in 73rd place following his magnificent innings of 171 from 387 deliveries against the West Indies in what was his first Test for his country.
The 21-year-old did not look overawed at Test level as he registered the third-highest score for an India opener on debut and the highest away from home, to deservedly win the Player of the Match award in his inaugural Test appearance.
Rohit and Jaiswal weren’t the only Indian players to make ground in the rankings courtesy of their Caribbean adventures against the West Indies, with No.1 ranked bowler Ravichandran Ashwin further extending his lead at the top of the bowling rankings following his 12-wicket haul for the match.
The impressive bowling performance saw Ashwin improve a total of 24 rating points, meaning the experienced right-armer now holds a 56-point lead ahead of Australia captain Pat Cummins in second place on the updated rankings for Test bowlers.
Fellow India spinner Ravindra Jadeja played an important supporting role to Ashwin during that first Test by collecting five wickets of his own and that saw the left-armer rise three places to seventh overall on the bowler rankings.
There was also some movement on the latest T20I rankings following the completion of Bangladesh’s home series against Afghanistan, with star spinner Rashid Khan extending his lead at the top of the list for bowlers despite the fact the right-armer took just one wicket during the two-match series.
Yet it was Bangladesh’s bevy of consistent performers that reaped the most reward for their 2-0 series triumph, with experienced all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan climbing eight places on the T20I bowler rankings to equal 16th and fellow left-arm spinner Nasum Ahmed rising 17 spots to equal 33rd following their impressive displays with the ball.
And stand-in skipper Litton Das rose three places to equal 18th on the list for T20I batters, after he scored a total of 53 runs for Bangladesh across the two matches.(https://www.icc-cricket.com)
